Page 46 of Making It Burn

“I have a meeting in four minutes.”

“Fine, fine.But we’re talking about this later.I want details.All the details.”She started walking backward toward her office.“And Beau?Whatever happened, whatever weird thing is going on between you two?Fix it.Because that tension is going to make working together really uncomfortable.”

“Thanks for that insight,” I muttered.

She laughed and disappeared around the corner.

I stood there for a moment, coffee in hand, trying to get my heart rate under control.

Everything was fine.Mason and I were professionals.We could work together without it being weird.

Even if seeing him just now, all cold and distant, had felt like a punch to the gut.

I downed half my coffee in one gulp and headed to the conference room.

* * *

By the time I walked into Conference Room B, Mason was already there, sitting at the table with his laptop open and a stack of documents in front of him.He didn’t look up when I entered.

Cool.We were doing the “pretend Saturday night never happened” thing.

I sat down across from him—not next to him, because I wasn’t a masochist—and pulled out my laptop.

The silence was deafening.

“So,” I said finally.“About Saturday—”

“We should focus on the meeting.”Mason’s eyes stayed fixed on his screen.

“Mason—”

“Carter will be here any minute.We need to be prepared.”

“I know we need to be prepared, but we also need to—”

The door opened, and Patsy walked in, looking way too cheerful for a Monday morning.

“Boys!How was your weekend?”She plopped down at the head of the table.“Do anything fun besides moving?”

Mason’s shoulders tensed.

I nearly choked on my coffee.

“Just...relaxed,” I managed.“You know.Low-key.”

“Mason?”Patsy looked at him expectantly.

“Dinner with my father,” Mason said, his voice carefully neutral.

“Oh, that’s nice!How is your father?”

“Getting married, apparently.”

Patsy’s eyebrows shot up.“Really?That’s wonderful!When did this happen?”

“He told me last night.They’ve been dating for six months.”

“Well, good for him.Life’s too short not to take chances on happiness, you know?”She took a sip of her coffee.“Speaking of which, you two seem tense.Everything okay with the case?”